Asked by: Amy Callaghan (Scottish National Party - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many women applied for the two-child limit exemption in East Dunbartonshire constituency.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The requested information is only available at household level and are not broken down by gender.
Asked by: Amy Callaghan (Scottish National Party - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what training Child Maintenance Service caseworkers receive.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All Child Maintenance Caseworkers receive 5 days of Child Maintenance Service (CMS) Gateway learning in the classroom, regardless of which part of the business they will be working in. This includes core digital skills, management of customers security, management of unacceptable customer behaviour and how to recognise and respond appropriately to domestic abuse.
CMS colleagues then receive up to 15 days of technical learning in the classroom, dependant on the role they will undertake. This includes management of customer information and queries on the telephone, in writing and digitally. Learning is also provided to recognise, manage and signpost customers with complex needs, for example living costs or threats of suicide or self-harm.
In addition, learners receive workplace support to embed learning. This is interspersed with the classroom learning and is completed by dedicated coaches who use live work to enhance the classroom theory. The ratio is 1 day classroom learning to 3 days workplace support.
Both classroom learning and workplace support can be flexible and extra time or support can be provided if learners have any additional needs. Classroom learning is normally completed in a ratio of 1 learning delivery officer to 12 learners. Workplace support is a ratio of 1 workplace support coach to 6 learners.
Learners also undertake the DWP Fundamental Learning Journey (FLJ) which is a standardised approach to learning that ensures you have the right level of skills and knowledge to deliver excellent service regardless of your role within DWP Service Delivery. The journey emphasises skills alongside technical knowledge required, making our service more consistent for customers. All the learning in the FLJ is expected to be completed within 26 weeks of the start date. The learning is flexible, to fit around any technical learning that is undertaken.
Asked by: Amy Callaghan (Scottish National Party - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the level at which Universal Credit is set with reference to the prices of essential items.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no objective way of deciding what an adequate level of benefit should be as every person has different requirements. Income-related benefit rates are not made up of separate amounts for specific items of expenditure such as food or fuel charges, and beneficiaries are free to spend their benefit as they see fit, in the light of their individual commitments, needs and preferences.
The Government is increasing support for low income and vulnerable households with welfare expenditure forecast to rise from £275.6 billion in 2022/23 to £289.4 billion in 2023/24. The Spring Statement made clear, the focus is supporting workforce participation, helping people move into work and higher earnings.
Asked by: Amy Callaghan (Scottish National Party - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of Universal Credit to enable claimants to meet the cost of essential items.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no objective way of deciding what an adequate level of benefit should be as every person has different requirements. Income-related benefit rates are not made up of separate amounts for specific items of expenditure such as food or fuel charges, and beneficiaries are free to spend their benefit as they see fit, in the light of their individual commitments, needs and preferences.
The Government is increasing support for low income and vulnerable households with welfare expenditure forecast to rise from £275.6 billion in 2022/23 to £289.4 billion in 2023/24. The Spring Statement made clear, the focus is supporting workforce participation, helping people move into work and higher earnings.
Asked by: Amy Callaghan (Scottish National Party - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people under the age of 25 are in receipt of Universal Credit in each constituency in Scotland.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Statistics on the number of people in receipt of Universal Credit are published every month. The latest statistics are available by age and by Westminster parliamentary constituency, to February 2023, on Stat-Xplore.
Asked by: Amy Callaghan (Scottish National Party - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level of Government support for single parent families.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to a sustainable, long-term approach to tackling poverty and supporting people on lower incomes. As seen in the measures announced by the Chancellor in the Spring Statement, the Government is focused on ensuring more people are supported into the workforce so that they can seize the opportunities and positive benefits of work, including changes to the Universal Credit childcare element which will provide generous additional financial support to parents moving into work and/or increasing their working hours. From April, State Pensions and benefits including Universal Credit will increase by 10.1% in line with the Consumer Prices Index for the year to September 2022. The benefit cap levels will also be increased from April by 10.1%, ensuring capped households will see an increase in their benefit following Up-rating.
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living, which is why, in addition to the £37 billion of support we have provided for cost-of-living pressures in 2022/23, we are acting now to ensure support continues throughout 2023/24.
Asked by: Amy Callaghan (Scottish National Party - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect of not uplifting legacy benefits on the trends in the level of relative poverty of people with a disability in each constituency in Scotland.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
It is not possible to do this, as DWP does not collect this constituency data.
Asked by: Amy Callaghan (Scottish National Party - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to make it his policy to pay under 25s who are single parents the adult rate of benefits when they are claiming Universal Credit.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Universal Credit provides those who are under 25 with lower rates than those age 25 and over. This is to reflect the fact that these claimants are more likely to live in someone else’s household and have lower living costs. It also reflects the lower wages that younger workers typically receive. However, it is acknowledged that some claimants under 25 do live independently, which is why Universal Credit includes separate elements to provide support to claimants for these additional costs, such as housing costs. These additional amounts are provided to claimants at the same level irrespective of age.
Asked by: Amy Callaghan (Scottish National Party - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he provide data on the take up of Pension Credit by constituency in Scotland as of 8 March 2023.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Take-up statistics for Pension Credit are available at Great Britain level only. The most recent take-up statistics are publicly available in the “Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up” publication which can be found on the statistics section of gov.uk. The latest publication relates to the financial year 2019 to 2020.
Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2019 to 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The most recent caseload statistics for Pension Credit refer to August 2022, and are publicly available via DWP Stat-xplore. The table below shows the Pension Credit caseload statistics by constituency in Scotland in August 2022.
Aberdeen North | 1766 |
Aberdeen South | 1143 |
Airdrie and Shotts | 2662 |
Angus | 2043 |
Argyll and Bute | 2290 |
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock | 2690 |
Banff and Buchan | 1822 |
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk | 2123 |
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross | 1744 |
Central Ayrshire | 2714 |
Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill | 2886 |
Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East | 2102 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 2877 |
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale | 2201 |
Dundee East | 1962 |
Dundee West | 2414 |
Dunfermline and West Fife | 1529 |
East Dunbartonshire | 1123 |
East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow | 2194 |
East Lothian | 1936 |
East Renfrewshire | 1479 |
Edinburgh East | 2041 |
Edinburgh North and Leith | 1618 |
Edinburgh South | 1262 |
Edinburgh West | 1251 |
Edinburgh South West | 1457 |
Falkirk | 2491 |
Glasgow Central | 3089 |
Glasgow East | 3939 |
Glasgow North | 1878 |
Glasgow North East | 3736 |
Glasgow North West | 2829 |
Glasgow South West | 3337 |
Glasgow South | 2632 |
Glenrothes | 2218 |
Gordon | 1114 |
Inverclyde | 2603 |
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey | 1941 |
Kilmarnock and Loudoun | 2670 |
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath | 2300 |
Lanark and Hamilton East | 2825 |
Livingston | 2331 |
Linlithgow and East Falkirk | 2412 |
Midlothian | 1693 |
Moray | 1895 |
Motherwell and Wishaw | 2928 |
Na h-Eileanan an Iar | 1043 |
North Ayrshire and Arran | 2943 |
North East Fife | 1338 |
Ochil and South Perthshire | 1954 |
Orkney and Shetland | 810 |
Paisley and Renfrewshire North | 2006 |
Paisley and Renfrewshire South | 2357 |
Perth and North Perthshire | 2058 |
Ross, Skye and Lochaber | 1628 |
Rutherglen and Hamilton West | 3205 |
Stirling | 1685 |
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine | 996 |
West Dunbartonshire | 2858 |
Total | 127080 |
Asked by: Amy Callaghan (Scottish National Party - East Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the socioeconomic impact of changes to the state pension for 1950s-born women in each constituency in Scotland.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Successive governments have given due consideration to the impact of the proposals made in the Pensions Acts of 1995, 2007, 2011 and 2014, that introduced changes to the State Pension age. These assessments have been published.
No assessments have been made specifically on individual constituencies in Scotland.